Time for a new Gibbush

Instead of writing the usual big blog post i do, im going to write a recap of what happened this week:
Sunday:
Sunday i needed to be back at base so i took a bus from my kibbutz to Be'er Sheave where my base is
Once I arrive to Be'er Sheeva, i had to board another bus to take me to a place where all soldiers go to meet up with their mifaceds and be taken to their main training base.
At this waiting area, i got a chance to see some of my friends in other units, such as Matti and Dave in Tzanchaniem. I then had to run back to my area (Nahal area) and met up with my Mifaced and went off to my training base.
Once i arrive i had a quick lunch and then we received our B gear which included:
Uniform B - a uniform that looks like a but is meant to be worn in the field
Shovel
rain gear
Jacket
Long pants
Water bottles

All this was put into a bag that looks like a backpack, without the comfortable straps called a tadal we were then given time off and sent to bed early

Monday:
nothing really happened in the morning At night we started Gibbush. Gibbush is a tryout to get into the special forces of the group your in. The special forces included:
Palsar - recon group
Palchan - explosives unit
Orev- anti tank
Palkit - radio unit used during time of war
In order to get into any of the special forces, you need to pass a 4 day gibbush that includes anything from running to crawling to sprinting to masas (or long marches)
the gibbush started with us being lead out of the base, to the back area and to a huge field. Right near the back entrance of the base, was the sleeping area for the gibbush, which included many tents in the shape of a Chet. There was also a long road, which leads to the base at one end and at the other are the bases shooting ranges. There is also a lot of open space, a few trees and nothing else besides rocks. The first thing we did when we got to the gibbush was stand in the open area in the center of the Chet. there we met our first commanders and given dinner which consisted of:
two cans of tuna
Corn in a can
Pineapple in a can
bread
spreads (chocolate and jelly)
Cucumbers and Tomatoes
This food all came in a box and was supposed to resemble the food a special forces group gets in the field. This was also the same meal we would get for the next four days for lunch, breakfast and dinner. The next thing we did was fill bags (the ones that you can find at gardening stores and hold dirt or moss) with sand and rocks and put the into our tadales. We were also given a big bag called a kitbag, where we put all the things originally found in our tadal. The final thing we did was take sleeping bags and thin, thin, thin pieces of foam for sleeping on. The next thing we did was stand back in the open area of the tents and got our new group and commanders. We were then told to take only our tadaliem and run to the farthest tent. We then formed a Chet and waited for the mifaced to come. Then he said "you see that rock over there, 10 seconds to form an new Chet there." Once we got far enough away for the mifaceds liking, we were told to stand in the line. Then he said, "You see that rock over there, 10 seconds to run around it and come back." we did this for a while (over an hour). Then he said, "You see the same rock, 30 seconds to crawl there and back" This again went on for a while. We started the gibbush with 330 people and at this point, we were down to 200. After we finished crawling, we were sent back to the open Chet area, where we got our new group and our new mifaceds. Then we were given numbers and new rules:
1: at all times, a hat, with our numbers, must be on our heads
2: while we sleep, we needed to have 2 guards. 1 at the entrance of the tent and 1 walking around the tent
3: no shoes allowed in the sleeping bags
we were then shown our new tents and sent to sleep

Tuesday:
After doing guard duty for 1 hour 30 min (which means i was waken up 3 times at night) we were woken up at 6 in the morning. The day looked like this:
wake up We were given a gun (m-16 long) and a vest that is used to hold water bottles, magazines of ammo and other essentials in the field.
Masa with a stretcher
masa with the tadaliem (every time we did a masa, we needed to be in two lines right behind the mifaced. If we were to far behind, we had to wake in a circle to collect everyone and restart) sprinting crawling (again for an hour and a half)
lunch
digging a whole that we had to hide in if artillery were to start hitting us
sprinting
crawling creating a hiding spot somewhere deep in the field, with what ever we could find near us (bushes, dirt, rocks)
dinner
masa sleeping
At the start of the group, we had 17 people. At the end of the day, we were down to 11

Wednesday:
Physically it was an easier day throughout the night
we still had to do guard duty. We were also woken up in the middle of the night, given 3 min. to get dress and led on a masa when we woke up, we were down to 10 people (most groups had 10, some had 7 and one had 6)
masa in the morning
breakfast
Sprinting thinking game - the scenario was that there was going to be a nuclear explosion and we had to save 4 people. the options were:
a boy who was 5
a girl who was 5
a farmer
a physicist
doctor
astronaut
a woman with the knowledge on how to rebuild the world
and many more people
the group finally decided that we were going to save the woman, the farmer, the girl who was four and the doctor.
We were then told to go running again masa lead to a big steep mountain where we had to put sand bags on our back and walk around the mountain and keep track of how many times we walk around
then we were lead to monkey bars and as a team we had to stay up on them for 5 min.
After failing five times, we were punished with sprinting
After that we were lead to an open area and told, without looking at the base, using what ever is around you rebuild the base
Lunch
once we finished that we were lead to brain game 2: we were given a log and an oil drum. The game was to cross this river. We were on one side and the water was full of mines. We had to use what we were given and cross the lake.
After failing three times, we had to run again (as punishment). This time however, we had to run in a circle, at one spot we had to do ten pushups, then sprint to another spot, do 10 sit-ups, then sprint to another part and do this jumping, pushup type thing and sprint back to the beginning. After about 15 min of this we were lead to a wire and told to dig a hole that we could go under the wire and not touch it. After what seem like forever of digging, we were told to see if we could go under the wire or not. Once no one was able to do this, we had to cover up our holes and we were lead back to our tent.
there we had dinner
After dinner we were lead on one last final big masa and then sent off to bed

Thursday:
one last night of guarding
Wake up
Masa
Breakfast
filled out a questionnaire about our selves and then we finished the gibbush with a private interview with the mifacdeem
At the end of the gibbush, we had 130 people left (although it seemed like less and when we counted at night we got 110)
Throughout the whole gibbush, we had to have two full water bottles on us. Whenever we finished the masa one way, when we came back, after sprinting or crawling, we had to drink a full water bottle or drink a full one between two people. Also throughout the gibbush, the mifacdem would always ask us if we felt healthy, wanted to drop out or if we needed a doctor. Once we finished the gibbush, we walked to the food area and ate like kings. Everything from chicken to hamburgers to pastry. We were them lead back to our groups before we started, where everyone gave us a congratulator shake and pat on the back. We then spent the rest of the day cleaning the base and getting it ready for us to leave

Friday:
we woke up early at 4 cleaned up the base some more and left the base to come home

As a gift to us for doing the gibbush, we don't need to go back to the army on Sunday and instead get to go back on Monday. That is when we finds out if we passed the gibbush and where we are going. We also found out that next week we will be starting real basic training and we will not be off next weekend. Welcome to the real army!!!